Turkish Culture

The Baton Rouge Center for World Affairs is having its 12th Annual International Cooking Competition (ICC) on June 5 from 6:30-9:00 pm at the Louisiana State Museum. It s a great, community event that combines the diverse culinary tastes of Baton Rouge residents into one night at the museum. All the contestants are local, amateur cooks who submit some amazing recipes and they are looking for a few more amateur chefs to show off their skills! There will also be entertainment and food samplings from local restaurants/caterers for attendees to try…

You are expected to carry a box of sweets ( mithai ) or dried fruits when visiting friends and families on festive occasions. Gifts like flowers and chocolates are the best bet on most celebrations like birthdays, child birth etc. Close families and friends may gift items like toys, clothes, books, and electronic gadgets on such occasions. Since white is the color of mourning and death, white flowers must never be given. Similarly, gifts are usually wrapped in red, blue, green or yellow colored wrapping papers as these are colors of celebration…

Sandy Relief Efforts Sandy was one of the most destructive hurricanes in the past couple of decades that hit NY very hard. Most of the cities, especially affluent neighborhoods along the seashores in south Long Island were hit. The Helping Hands Relief Foundation and the Turkish Cultural Center Long Island have been trying to help with the relief efforts, by serving hot food at shelters where many people had to live and are still living during the past couple of weeks. Volunteers from TCC were working hard to give a hand to whoever needed help…

To be honest, I know very little about Turkey. I know that is a largely secular state with a majority Muslim population and that it is actively seeking European Union membership. So when I heard that there was a Turkish cultural festival in Chicago, I was more than excited. Spent an entire day absorbing the culture, the music, the dance and of course the food. Gulping would probably better describe my eating there. The bakhlavas, the boregis and the kebabs were yum, yum &amp; yum. I am not so sure about the Turkish coffee though. It may look…

Foreign Films / Turkish Film - Separation Continued / Sunnyside / December 3, 2010 / Queens Buzz. The film’s title, Separation, has many meanings that are revealed as the story unfolds. There’s the separation between the young scribe and the ambassador following the ambassador’s death. Dede describes this separation as no different than the separation one experiences from the sun at the end of the day. Then there’s the separation that describes the void between the good doctor and the young maiden. They both quietly long for one another. And yet…

All the same, there is nothing like the testimony of the founder of the P.L.O. himself, Ahmed Shukari. Already in 1956 he proclaimed from the podium of the U.N., as the Arab League s ambassador there, that such a creature as Palestine does not exist at all. This land is nothing but the southern portion of Greater Syria And if Ahmed Shukari says that Palestine does not exist at all, the logical inference is that Palestinians do not exist at all either. That same Shukari was born of a Turkish mother in Lebanon, was himself a Jordanian lawyer…

Radical Islamism = Racism = Genocide Jihad-Islamism (not Islam) abuses human rights worldwide Declaration by The Coalition for the Defense of Human Rights Affirming the Dangers of Radical Islamism and a Call to Recognize the Historical Oppression of Religious Minorities Subjected to this Racist-like Practice. We, the members of The Coalition for the Defense of Human Rights, representing minority religious and ethnic communities from around the world, call upon the World Conference Against Racism, Racial Discrimination, Xenophobia and Related Intolerance…

Unfortunately, I ve never been there, or the restaurant next to it. It s not my side of town (I m out west). There was a great North African place called Rose des Sables in the westside which had enchanting, tasteful decor and very good food. Unfortunately it closed down. I have a friend who lives in the 18th and knows all the best places, but don t remember the name of the place I went to last time for a scruptious couscous feast. The lebanese places on the other hand are mostly on the west side, and I can vouch for a couple of places there. One…